Understanding the Effects of Radio Frequency (RF) Interference on WLAN Performance and Security

A Bandspeed White Paper

Bandspeed, Inc. 2010

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Overview
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) based on the IEEE 802.11 standards have become the de-facto standard for wireless connectivity within buildings. These networks are commonly called Wi-Fi networks. With the newest IEEE physical layer standard (IEEE 802.11n), Wi-Fi solutions can now support distribution of high-throughput applications such as streaming video. Wi-Fi networks, however, are prone to radio-frequency (RF) interference which can have drastic effects on the performance of the WLAN. Some interfering devices can completely block an 802.11 channel even when they are a significant distance from the WLAN access point (AP) or client device. For WLANs to be able to reliably support mission-critical, high-throughput or time-sensitive applications, RF interference must be continuously monitored and the WLAN must automatically and dynamically adapt to mitigate the effects of the interference. To minimize WLAN network downtime and increase user satisfaction, IT administrators need both real-time and historical visibility into RF interference to diagnose WLAN performance issues and allow them to intelligently make network adjustments to improve performance.

Common RF Interferers to Wi-Fi Networks

Wi-Fi networks operate in the unlicensed 2.4 and 5 GHz frequency bands, where they share the medium with a variety of other devices. With the exception of Bluetooth devices, none of the other devices have any mechanisms to co-exist with WiFi networks. As a result, when an interfering device is emitting energy in the WLAN channel that the WLAN access point is using for communication, the throughput of the AP can be significantly affected. Common interfering devices include the following: Analog cordless phones Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) digital cordless phones Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) digital cordless phones Wireless video cameras Wireless game controllers Conventional microwave ovens Inverter microwave ovens Motion Detectors Wireless baby monitors Bluetooth devices

In addition to these devices, RF Jamming devices exist that can be used to intentionally interfere with wireless communications. Even though these devices are illegal in the US and elsewhere, they present performance and security issues to WLANs.

RF Interference Degrades Wi-Fi Network Throughput

The impact of RF interference on Wi-Fi network throughput depends on the type of interferer, the RF characteristics of the interferer and the location of the interferer with respect to the WLAN devices. The Farpoint Group published a report with test results showing interference can degrade WLAN throughput by 10 100%, depending upon the type and location of the interferer.

Bandspeed testing yielded similar results. We tested the effect of interference on the throughput between a WLAN AP and a WLAN client device in a typical office environment, placing the interferer in two different locations: NEAR and FAR. For the test, we used an 802.11n WLAN AP and client, functioning in the 2.4GHz frequency band and set to use 20MHz wide channels. In all cases, the WLAN AP and the WLAN client were approximately 8 meters apart and separated by 3 walls. In

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the NEAR location, the interferer was also approximately 8 meters away from the AP and separated by 3 walls. In the FAR location, the interferer was approximately 38 meters away from the AP and separated by 10 walls. See Figure 1 for the office diagram illustrating the relative positions within the office.

Figure 1: Office diagram with device positions for throughput testing.

For our testing, we used Iperf to measure the throughput of the WLAN. Iperf is a commonly-used network testing tool. We measured the average downstream TCP throughput from the AP to the client over 20 seconds, using a 128K window size (all other settings set to default). We measured the throughput on channels 1, 6 and 11 in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, with and without a specific interferer active in the background. We performed this testing with the following interfering devices: wireless video camera, inverter microwave oven, conventional microwave oven, Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum phone (FHSS), Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum phone (DSSS), analog cordless phone and a Bluetooth device. In each case, a baseline throughput measurement was taken first, immediately following a measurement with the interferer active. The results of the testing in the NEAR and FAR positions are shown in Tables 1 and 2 respectively. THROUGHPUT (Mbps) Channel 6 Off On % lost 78 0 100% 78 6 92% 78 30 62% 65 10 85% 78 12 85% 78 78 0% 74 74 0%

INTERFERING DEVICE Wireless Video Camera Inverter microwave oven Conventional microwave oven FHSS phone DSSS phone Analog cordless phone Bluetooth device

Off 63 63 63 77 63 63 63

Channel 1 On % lost 1.5 98% 20 68% 58 8% 16 79% 0 100% 0 100% 63 0%

Off 68 66 66 67 66 66 68

Channel 11 On 68 0.3 19 15 66 66 65

% lost 0% 100% 71% 78% 0% 0% 4%

Table 1: Throughput Measurements with and without Active RF Interference in NEAR position
THROUGHPUT (Mbps) Channel 6 Off On % lost 77 0 100% 77 50 35% 77 60 22% 68 20 71% 77 77 0% 77 77 0% 77 77 0%

INTERFERING DEVICE Wireless Video Camera Inverter microwave oven Conventional microwave oven FHSS phone DSSS phone Analog cordless phone Bluetooth device

Off 64 63 64 74 63 63 63

Channel 1 On % lost 64 0% 63 0% 64 0% 24 68% 0 100% 0.7 99% 63 0%

Off 67 67 67 74 67 67 67

Channel 11 On 67 2 20 32 67 67 67

% lost 0% 97% 70% 57% 0% 0% 0%

Table 2: Throughput Measurements with and without Active RF Interference in FAR position

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The loss of WLAN throughput due to the active interference in both the NEAR and FAR positions is graphically shown in Figure 2.

DatawithInterfererinNEARPosition
CHANNEL1
Wireless Video Camera Inverter Microwave Oven Microwave Oven FHSS Phone DSSS Phone Analog Phone BlueTooth 0 25 50 75 100 Loss in Throughput (%) 0 25 50 75 100 Loss in Throughput (%) 0 25 50 75 100 Loss in Throughput (%)

CHANNEL6

CHANNEL11

DatawithInterfererinFARPosition
CHANNEL1
Wireless Video Camera Inverter Microwave Oven Microwave Oven FHSS Phone DSSS Phone Analog Phone BlueTooth 0 25 50 75 100 Loss in Throughput (%) 0 25 50 75 100 Loss in Throughput (%) 0 25 50 75 100 Loss in Throughput (%)

CHANNEL6

CHANNEL11

Figure 2: Loss of WLAN Throughput due to Interference

Of the devices tested, only the Bluetooth device had minimal impact on WLAN throughput. All of the other devices significantly degraded the WLAN throughput, with some up to 100% for specific WLAN channels.

As shown in Figure 2, no WLAN channel is immune to interference. For each channel tested, there was at least one interfering device that degraded the WLAN throughput by 100%. Several interfering devices, such as the inverter microwave oven and the FHSS phone, significantly degraded WLAN throughput on all 2.4GHz WLAN channels when in the NEAR position. The wireless video camera, inverter microwave oven, DSSS phone and analog phone blocked WLAN transmission completely on select channels even when in the FAR position.

Managing WLANs to meet minimum throughput performance levels requires monitoring of the RF environment for interferers and enabling a network administrator to identify sources of interference and intelligently adjust channel configurations for the WLANs to avoid the known interferers in the environment. Ideally, this capability should be integrated into the WLAN to allow these adjustments to be done automatically and dynamically.

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RF Interference Disrupts Wi-Fi Quality of Service

With advanced applications such as voice and streaming video being deployed on WLANs, throughput is not the only performance metric that must be managed. Latency and jitter must also be controlled in order to provide an acceptable audio and visual user experience. RF interference increases latency and jitter even for low-throughput applications, such as voice communications, and render their performance unacceptable. This poor performance can be seen even when the average throughput supported by the WLAN was significantly more than the application requires.

Bandspeed testing supports this assertion. As with the throughput testing, the WLAN AP and the WLAN client for the latency testing were 802.11n devices functioning in the 2.4GHz frequency band and were set to use 20 MHz wide channels. The WLAN AP and client were approximately 8 meters apart and separated by 3 walls. We placed an inverter microwave oven approximately 15 meters away from the AP and separated by 5 walls. See Figure 3 for the office diagram illustrating the relative positions within the office.
10feet

CLIENT

WLAN Client

uWave

AP

Figure 3: Office diagram with device positions for latency/jitter testing.

To establish a baseline for the WLAN throughput, we used Iperf to measure the average downstream TCP throughput from the AP to the client over 20 seconds, using a 128K window size (all other settings set to default). We measured the throughput on channels 6 in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, with and without the inverter microwave on in the background. The data collected is shown in Table 3. THROUGHPUT (Mbps) Channel 6 Off On % lost 77 46 40%

INTERFERING DEVICE Inverter microwave oven

Table 3: Throughput Measurements with and without Inverter Microwave Oven Interference
We monitored seven simulated voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls between a computer connected to the AP and the WLAN client using Ixias Chariot to simulate the traffic and measure one-way delay and Mean Opinion Score for each call (see sidebar on page 7 for more information on Mean Opinion Scores).

For this test, we used the G.711u CODEC which requires 64 Kbps for each VoIP call. The seven simultaneous calls required an aggregate throughput of less than 500 kbps. Traffic was monitored for over 3 minutes, during which we turned on the inverter microwave oven for one minute starting at 0:50. The data collected is show in Figure 4.

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MicrowaveON

Figure 4: One-way Delay and MOS Estimate for VoIP calls with and without interference from an inverter microwave oven.

As seen in Figure 4, the call quality of the seven VoIP calls was at the theoretical maximum of 4.4 when the WLAN had no RF interference disrupting the communication between the WLAN AP and the client. When the inverter microwave oven was turned on, however, this interference significantly degraded the call quality, dropping the call quality at times down to unacceptable levels (MOS values as low as 1). When the inverter microwave oven was turned off, the call quality returned to the theoretical maximum levels. Even though the WLAN was capable of supporting an average throughput of 46 Mbps and the phone calls required less than 500 kbps, the inverter microwave oven impacted the latency and jitter of the calls to cause unacceptable performance. This experiment also illustrates a very real challenge in deploying and managing enterprise-class WLANs that are capable of supporting time-sensitive applications: RF interference that disrupts WLAN performance is frequently transient and rarely always on. This WLAN could have been deployed and tested with the inverter microwave
For the G.711u CODEC used in the testing, the theoretical maximum MOS score is 4.4. Mean Opinion Score (MOS) Mean Opinion Score is a qualitative measurement of voice quality for a telephone call. MOS scores range from 1 (worst) to 5 (best). The following table describes the values: MOS Score 5 4 3 2 1 Call Quality Excellent Good Fair Poor Bad

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oven off and certified for being capable of supporting excellent VoIP call quality, yet the users would experience inconsistent and unacceptable phone network performance. The network administrator would then run network performance tests when the inverter microwave oven was off and again measure call quality at the theoretical maximum. For this reason, continuous RF monitoring with interference classification and logging is critical to providing a network administrator the visibility into the RF environment (both current and historical) necessary to diagnose performance issues and modify network configurations to rectify issues. Without this critical information, proper mitigation actions simply cannot be taken.

RF Interference Threatens Wi-Fi Network Security

With WLANs supporting more mission critical applications such as voice and video communications, monitoring and management of RF interference becomes a security imperative. Interference can be from an intentional, malicious interferer such as an RF jammer or from an unintentional source such as a cordless phone in a nearby location. In either case, the ability of the WLAN to support the real-time communication required by these applications can be severely compromised by the RF interference. WLANs must be able to continuously monitor the RF environment for these security issues and trigger alerts to network administrators. One example of this is the use of wireless video cameras for security surveillance. Non-WLAN video cameras have been shown earlier to interfere with WLAN communications. An alternative that can effectively coexist with other WLAN devices is to use video cameras that use the WLAN for connectivity. As with the rest of the WLAN, these cameras are subject to performance degradation due to RF interference. If the networks ability to support video transmission from the cameras to a monitoring console was compromised by RF interference, the interference must be detected and identified, especially if the disruption is intentional and malicious. WLANs must be designed to automatically classify these events, alert the appropriate personnel and, ideally, adjust the WLAN configuration to re-establish the connectivity between the security devices and the monitor station.

Bandspeed AirMaestro RF Signal Analysis Solution Provides Interference Awareness to WLANs

Bandspeed AirMaestro Spectrum Analysis solutions are designed to be embedded into OEM system-level products to provide comprehensive understanding of the RF environment and enable a WLAN to automatically and intelligently adjust its configuration to maximize performance, security and manageability. Communication equipment enabled with AirMaestro Spectrum Analysis can perform the following functions: Continuously scan all WLAN channels in both Wi-Fi frequency bands: 2.4 and 5GHz; Determine channel quality and channel utilization from both Wi-Fi and non-Wi-Fi interference for all Wi-Fi channels; Detect and classify RF interferers; Dynamically adjust their channel settings of APs to avoid RF interferers affecting the network (microwave ovens, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, wireless video cameras, RF jammers); Generate event logs, including interferers detected, channel adjustments made and the reason for the change.

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AirMaestro Centralized RF Monitoring Service/Console

WLAN Controllers

Ethernet Network
Networked Devices with Embedded AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzer solutions

WLAN Access Points

Security Sensor

RF Sensor

WLAN AP

PC

WLAN Client Devices

Bluetooth Cordless Phone

Video Camera

Baby Microwave RF Monitor Jammer

RF Interfering Devices

Figure 5: WLAN with Embedded RF Signal Analysis

The AirMaestro Spectrum Analysis solution consists of the AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzer Integrated Circuit (BSP2500) and AirMaestro Software that are designed to produce unparalleled radio-frequency interference detection, classification and management.

AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzer Integrated Circuit

minPCI Card with AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzer IC

SoftwareApplications, Graphical Users Interfaces,devicedrivers,embedded firmware

Figure 6: AirMaestro RF Spectrum Analysis Solutions

The AirMaestro RF Spectrum Analysis solutions employ a novel RF interference classification architecture, making them low-cost, high-performance, highly-scalable and field upgradable. Traditional solutions capture RF spectral information from the environment and provide this information to network processors or centralized server CPUs for feature extraction and signal analysis. With the AirMaestro Spectrum Analysis technology, Bandspeed redefined the architecture for RF interference classification solutions allowing it to be cost-effectively embedded in edge network devices.

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In the traditional architecture, interference classification is performed by a remote server or appliance as illustrated in Figure 7. In this case, the raw spectral data is captured by the WLAN IC in the network device and forwarded by the network CPU to the remote server or appliance. The server then analyzes the raw data to classify the source of the interference. This can be effective to perform real-time analysis of the RF environment around the network device, but requires extensive CPU resources at the server/appliance to perform this function. This architecture also requires considerable network bandwidth to transmit the raw data. Both of these requirements limit the scalability of the solution. Since the architecture also commonly requires the network device to be taken out of WLAN service, it does not support the ability to correlate WLAN performance with classified RF interference.

Figure 7: Interference Classification performed by Remote Server/Appliance

An alternate architecture to improve network scalability of the RF monitoring solution is illustrated in Figure 8, where the interference classification is performed by the network CPU within the network device. In this architecture, only consolidated spectrum data and interference event notifications are sent across the network to the remote server/appliance. This architecture, however, requires extensive network CPU and memory resources which commonly prevents the network device from supporting simultaneous WLAN access and spectrum sensing.

NetworkDevice
SpectrumData RemoteServer orAppliance Display MinimalCPU resourcesrequired InterferenceEvents Network CPU RadioControl FFTbased classification Channelscanning RequiresextensiveCPU resources Requiresextensive memoryresources OFDMreceiver RawFFTData WLANw/ AccesstoFFTData

Classification

Figure 8: Interference Classification performed by Network CPU

In the AirMaestro RF Signal Analysis architecture shown in Figure 9, classification is done by the embedded AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzer IC. The IC has an integrated interference detection and classification engine that moves classification to the edge of the device/network. This fundamental architectural change provides advanced interference monitoring and management, while requiring almost no resources from the network device CPU/memory, local area network, and remote server. This architecture enables a network device to simultaneously provide full WLAN access and continuous spectrum analysis monitoring. Furthermore, this architecture allows WLAN networks with thousands of network devices to be enabled with spectrum monitoring and interference classification because the remote server is not used to perform interference classification.

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NetworkDevice
SpectrumData RemoteServer orAppliance Display MinimalCPU resourcesrequired InterferenceEvents Network CPU CPUforwardsdata tomonitor Requiresverylittle CPUresources SpectrumData InterferenceEvents AirMaestro EmbeddedRF SignalAnalyzer SpecialpurposeRFsignal analyzer FFT andtimebased classification Adaptivechannelscanning Radiocontrol

Classification

Figure 9: AirMaestro Embedded RF Signal Analysis Architecture

A summary of the different interference monitoring architectures and their capabilities is shown in Figure 10.

Classification Engine
DynamicInterference Avoidance Classifier Location Frequencybased InterferenceClassification Efficient useofLANbandwidth Network scalability Nondisruptiveinterference monitoring Timebased InterferenceClassification Hardwareaccelerated Interference Classification SmartScanTM Adaptivescanning for improvedinterferencedetection ComprehensiveLog ofInterference history

Server/Appliance CPUwith WLANIC

Poor Server/Appliance

Network CPU withWLANIC Limited

Network Device

AirMaestro Embedded RFSignal Analyzer

Best
NetworkDevice

Limited

Limited

Figure 10: RF Interference Classification Architectures

As a dedicated RF sensor with its own dedicated radio, the AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzer scans the RF environment independent of the WLAN ICs providing WLAN access. This allows the BSP2500 to be integrated into WLAN access points and function along side the WLAN interfaces of the AP. This provides the ability to directly assess the effects of the RF interference on the WLAN performance.

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The AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzer is a purpose-built integrated circuit (IC) with a firmware-based classification engine supporting hardware-accelerated interference classification (See Figure 11 for a block diagram of the BSP2500 IC). A timedomain analyzer and a frequency-domain analyzer are both integrated into the IC, resulting in more accurate interference classification than possible with other solutions that rely solely on FFT/frequency-domain analysis.

2.4/5GHz Radio Radio Control

RXI/Q

Analog Frontend SignalAnalyzer

TimeDomain Analyzer

BSP2500

FrequencyDomain Analyzer

Classification Processor Secondary PCIBus Secondary PCIInterface PCI Bridge

RAM
GPIO

PrimaryPCI Interface

Primary PCIBus

Figure 11: AirMaestro BSP2500 RF Signal Analysis Integrated Circuit Block Diagram

The BSP2500 employs Bandspeed SmartScanTM technology to scan the RF frequency bands and adaptively adjust the channel dwell times to improve interference classification accuracy. The BSP2500 supports a 40 MHz frequency analysis window. Larger frequency ranges are monitored by sequentially scanning the RF environment in 40 MHz increments. When the BSP2500 detects potential RF interference, the SmartScan technology increases the dwell time at that frequency to extract enhanced time-domain and frequency-domain features from the RF signal. This improves both classification time and accuracy.

The AirMaestro Signal Analyzer also continuously monitors the channel quality and channel utilization levels for all WLAN channels. It further discriminates between WLAN energy and non-WLAN energy, displaying the channel utilization for each via dynamic flash displays. See Figure 12 for examples of these displays.

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Figure 12: AirMaestro Channel Management Displays

The AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzer solution detects and classifies RF Interference, as well as creates and manages an RF Interference Log (see Figure 13) resident on the system in which the solution is embedded (e.g. a WLAN access point). This interference log includes information such as the type of interferer, its signal strength, the list of WLAN channels impacted by the interference, the duration of the interference (including if it is still active) and the time of the interference. This provides the ability for a user to look back in time to determine how interference has been affecting the WLAN and which devices have been detected the strongest and most often. This allows the user to take educated interference mitigation actions, such as removing or shielding the interfering devices.

Figure 13: AirMaestro Interference Log Display

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WLAN access points that have embedded AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzers can intelligently and automatically adjust their WLAN channel configuration to dynamically avoid interference. The AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzer continuously monitors the channel quality for all WLAN channels. When interference exceeds a defined threshold, the Bandspeed Listen+Learn Automatic and Intelligent Channel Selection (AICS) software adjusts the WLAN channel of the AP to the WLAN channel that has the highest channel quality. The aggressiveness of the channel adaptation is policy-driven to provide conservative to aggressive channel changes. Listen+Learn also provides the capability to specify a preferred channel. With this capability, the AP can automatically change its channel to avoid interference and return to the preferred channel after the interference stops. This allows networks to be deployed with a pre-determined preferred channel mapping and still benefit from dynamic interference avoidance. A block diagram of the Listen+Learn AICS is shown in Figure 14.

RF

Bandspeed RFSignalAnalyzer
(BSP2500HW/FW)

CurrentChannel Conditions Interference Avoidance Algorithms NewChannel Settings

LinkQuality(Opt.)
(WLANDriver)

Algorithm Control

Policy Mapping
(Hostapplication)

RF

WLAN Access
(WLANHW/FW/Driver)

802.11n+SAAccessPoint Scansallchannelsautomatically(andintelligently) Estimateschannelquality (802.11usageandnon802.11usage) Movestobestavailablechannel wheninterference isdetected Policydriven canbeconservativeor aggressive Avoidandstayoravoidandreturntoapreferred channel Abletoexcludeanyinterferer fromcausingachannel change
Figure 14: AirMaestro Listen+Learn AICS

Devices with embedded AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzers can operate as stand-alone devices or as monitored devices. Stand-alone devices can be monitored by connecting to each devices user interface, in which the channel management and interference log displays are embedded. Monitored devices report events and statistics to the AirMaestro RF Monitoring service (See Figure 15).

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AirMaestro RF Monitoring Console Centralized Monitoring Advanced RF Displays User Alerts Consolidated Reports Historical Database Analysis Record / Playback

AirMaestro RF Monitoring Service Communication Management Alerts Management Ethernet Network Monitored Devices Database Management

APIs

Centralized Interference Database

WLAN AP

Security Sensor

WLAN AP

Security Sensor

PC

Figure 15: AirMaestro-enabled Devices on an Ethernet Network

The AirMaestro RF Monitoring Service is an application that runs on a remote server or appliance and centrally monitors and manages the connected devices with the embedded AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzers (Monitored Devices). The service manages the communications and connectivity to the Monitored Devices, collects interference and alert information from the devices in its database. The service and its database are accessible through APIs and the Bandspeed RF Monitoring Console applications.

The RF Monitoring Service supports centralized monitoring of up to 2,000 AirMaestro-enabled Monitored Devices simultaneously. The service also supports logical grouping of Monitored Devices, similar to a file folder structure. This allows the user to group Monitored Devices and filter the database for interference information applicable only to a subset of the Monitored Devices. A useful grouping structure could be groups based on location, with sub-grouping to get more specific on the devices location. This would allow the user to view the aggregate database for the complete network and drill down to the specific interference history associated with a particular floor in a building, for example.

The RF monitoring console supports advanced spectrum displays for remote visibility into the RF environment for diagnostics and troubleshooting. This includes the ability to view both real-time and historical RF spectral data. The following displays are available in the RF Monitoring Console application: Consolidated Interference Log Centralized Event Log Spectrum Analyzer Persistence Graph Scrolling Spectrogram with interference classification overlays Channel Quality Display Channel Utilization Display (both WLAN and non-WLAN)

These advanced spectrum displays are available as flash applications, allowing WLAN equipment manufacturers to easily integrate the RF Spectrum Analysis console displays with their existing WLAN management user interface. Figure 16-18 show examples of the Spectrum Analyzer display, the Persistence Graph and the Scrolling Spectrogram with event overlay display.

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Figure 16: AirMaestro Spectrum Analyzer Display

The Spectrum Analyzer display plots the amplitude vs. frequency for the detected RF energy. The frequency along the x-axis can be displayed as either frequency (MHz) or Wi-Fi channels. Both the instantaneous amplitude (the last data point collected over a 64msec period) and the maximum peak hold amplitude (the highest data point collected over a 64msec period) are dynamically plotted. The instantaneous data is plotted in blue, while the peak hold data is plotted in red. Markers may be added to the graph, as shown above with marker 1 in yellow.

Figure 17: AirMaestro Persistence Display

The Persistence display plots the amplitude vs. frequency for the detected RF energy. Both the instantaneous amplitude (the last data point collected over a 64msec period) and the maximum peak hold amplitude (the highest data point collected over a 64msec period) are dynamically plotted. The color of a pixel on the display represents the number of times the energy was detected at that specific frequency and amplitude, with blue representing the least frequent and red representing the most frequent.

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Figure 18: AirMaestro Scrolling Spectrogram with Event Overlay

The Scrolling Spectrogram displays frequency and amplitude of RF energy over time. The frequency along the x-axis can be displays as either frequency (MHz) or Wi-FI channel number. The amplitude of the energy can be plotted as either the instantaneous data (the last data point collected over a 64msec period) or the .maximum peak hold amplitude (the highest data point collected over a 64msec period). The amplitude is represented by the color, with blue representing the weakest signal and red representing the strongest signal. Time is represented on the y-axis, with the most recent data at the bottom of the display and the plotted data scrolling upward. Optional automatic event overlay may be enabled, overlays specific interference classification over the RF energy from that interferer on the scrolling spectrogram (see above the overlays for the S-Band Motion Detector and the Analog Cordless phone).

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Data Fusion Enhances Understanding of Wireless Networks

Data fusion is the merging of data from multiple independent sources to achieve a more complete and accurate understanding of the situation under study. The AirMaestro RF Monitoring Service supports data fusion with an Application Programming Interface (API) that provides equipment manufacturers the ability to integrate the AirMaestro RF Signal Analysis solution with other WLAN management applications.

Data fusion can be used in WLAN management to merge the centralized interference database with data sets from WLAN monitoring applications and WLAN Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS). Correlations can be made between specific types and profiles of RF Interference events with excessive transmit retries, excessive CRC errors, dropped connections, and slower network performance. This information can be used to make fact-based adjustments to the WLAN deployment, including location and removal of the sources of the interference, improved channel mapping for the WLAN access points, or repositioning of the WLAN access points away from interfering devices. Correlations can also be made between RF interference from malicious RF jammers and Denial of Service attacks, enabling rapid understanding and reaction to the specific type of security threat. As shown in Figure 19, WLAN management requires fusing data from RF interference monitoring, WLAN performance monitoring and WLAN security monitoring in order to provide the knowledge, control and security necessary to support mission-critical wireless networks.

WLANManagement forMissionCritical Networks

RF Interference Monitoring

WLAN Performance Monitoring

DataFusion

WLAN Security Monitoring

Knowledge,Control,Security
Figure 19: WLAN Management and Data Fusion
AirMaestro signal analysis was used at a regional hospital to diagnose the cause of intermittent performance issues with real-time applications running over the WLAN. Users were reporting there were times when the WLAN was unacceptably slow, occasionally resulting in devices being disconnected from the network. The WLAN was being monitored by a network monitoring appliance, capturing time-based WLAN performance metrics such as packet transmissions attempted, packets lost/retried and wireless transmission rates. The performance data showed there were times when WLAN performance dropped, but did not provide enough information to determine the cause of the degraded performance.

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Systems with embedded AirMaestro RF Signal Analyzers were deployed at multiple locations within the hospital. Each system automatically detected, classified and logged the interference events into a database with specific details on each interference event. This interference database provided visibility into the RF environment for a specific location within the hospital and over a specific period of time for post-event forensics.

Inspection of the interference database with a focus on the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital over a 24 hour period showed active RF interference present in the environment 10% of the time. Interference was detected from both conventional microwave ovens and Bluetooth devices, with the microwave ovens being the most commonly present at 9% of the time. See Figure 20 for a chart on the time distribution of interference during the survey.

Bluetooth <1%

Microwave Oven 9%

No Detected Interference 90%

Figure 20: Time Distribution of Interference in the Hospital ICU over 24 hours
The database also provided information on when each of the detected interferers were active. See Figure 21 for a plot of interferers detected and the duration of each interference event in the ICU during the investigation period. As can be seen on the graph, interference from microwave oven was frequently detected throughout the day with the duration of the interference ranging up to 330 seconds (at 1:00pm).

360 330 300 270 Event Duration (sec) 240 210 180 150 120 90 60 30 0 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00 00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 Local Time

MicrowaveOven

BluetoothDevice

Figure 21: Duration of Interference from Interferers in the Hospital ICU over 24 hours
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Each time an interferer was detected, the receive signal strength indication (RSSI) was recorded. See Figure 22 for a plot of RSSI for these same interferers during the same time period. Represented on the graph is each RSSI measurement taken for the interference event (Instantaneous RSSI) and the average RSSI over the duration of the interference event (Mean Event RSSI). The interference from the microwave ovens was detected commonly above -80dBm and as strong as -20dBm (at ~3:30pm).
0

-20

RSSI (dBm)

-40

-60

-80

-100 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00 00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 Local Time

WaveOvenMeanEventRSSI WaveOvenInstantaneousRSSI

BlueTooth MeanEventRSSI BlueTooth InstantaneousRSSI

Figure 22: Receive Signal Strength (RSSI) from Interferers in the Hospital ICU over 24 hours
WLAN devices conclude that the channel is occupied when the detected energy on the channel is above -76dBm for 802.11g and -82dBm for high-throughput 802.11n. RF Interference at or above these levels disrupts WLAN performance by preventing WLAN devices from transmitting.

As with the WLAN performance monitoring data, the RF interference information alone was also insufficient to determine if interference was affecting the WLAN performance. Only when the data from the RF interference database was merged with the data from the WLAN monitoring appliance was a correlation established between active RF interference from the microwave ovens and slower WLAN performance. Significantly higher packet loss and transmit retry rates were matched to the times when RF interference from the microwave ovens exceeded a certain signal strength and duration.

Additionally, it was determined that there was not a correlation between the RF interference from the detected Bluetooth devices and any degradation in the WLAN performance. Determining where correlations do not exist can sometimes be even more valuable than determining potential correlations when diagnosing performance issues.

Using data fusion to merge the WLAN monitoring data and the RF interference data provided a greater understanding of the causal relationship between the intermittent RF interference in the ICU from microwave ovens and the intermittent WLAN performance in that area. The establishment of this relationship was only possible by using information both the WLAN Monitoring and RF Monitoring databases. With the greater understanding gained through data fusion, recommendations to reposition WLAN access points and microwave ovens on the ICU floor were determined while no modifications were needed to address the interference from the Bluetooth devices.

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Access to the RF Monitoring Service through APIs provides an opportunity for equipment manufacturers to further enhance and differentiate their product offering. By integrating data fusion applications into network monitoring and management applications that included RF interference monitoring, a greater understanding of causal relationships can be obtained and dynamic network adjustments can be made intelligently and automatically.

Conclusion
With WLANs now supporting mission-critical applications, continuous monitoring of the RF environment including interference detection, classification and logging is an imperative to ensure network performance and security. Interference from a variety of common devices can significantly impact a WLANs throughput and ability to support time-sensitive applications, as well as threaten WLAN security. The Bandspeed AirMaestro RF Signal Analysis solution embeds interference classification into the network edge devices to provide a low-cost, high-performance, and scalable interference monitoring solution. The AirMaestro RF Monitoring Service and Console provides WLAN equipment providers a means to centrally monitor the interference in their environment and integrate advanced RF spectral analysis into their WLAN management solutions. Integrating interference monitoring data with WLAN performance and security metrics through data fusion provides a comprehensive WLAN and RF management solution required to support enterprise-class WLANs and enhance an equipment providers competitive position.

Information in this document is provided in connection with Bandspeed, Inc. products. No license, express or implied to any intellectual property rights is granted by this document. While every attempt has been made to assure that the information presented in this document is accurate, Bandspeed, Inc. assumes no liability whatsoever relating to fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, or infringement of any patent, copyright or other intellectual property right. Bandspeed, Inc. reserves the right to make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without notice. 2010 Bandspeed, Inc. All rights reserved.

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